Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-04-23

AXE him from b eneath and the brigade
of descending immortals will take Him
from above, and death shall be swal-
lowed up in victory.
The old braggart that threatened the
conquest and demolition of the planet
has lost his throne, has lost his sceptre,
has lost his palace, has lost his pres
ti2c, and the one word written over
all the gates of mausoleum and cata-
comb and metropolis, on cenotaph and
sarcophagus, on the lonely khan of the
Arctic explorer, and the c~atafalque of
great cathedral, written in capitals Of
azalea and Gala lily, written in musical
cadence. written in doxology of great
assemblages, written on the sculplured
door Of the family vault, is
"vICrORY."
Coronal word, embannered word,
apocalyptic word, chief word of the
triumphal arch under which conquer
ors return.
Victory! Word shouted at Culloden
and B~alaklava and Blenheim, at Me-
giddo and Solferino, at Marathon, where
the Athenians drove back the Modes;
at roictiers, where Charles Mortel
broke the ranks Of the Saracens; at
Salamis, where Themistocles in the
great sea fight COMPOUNDED the Per-
slams, and at the door of the eastern
cavern of chiselled rock, where Christ
came out through a recess and throt-
tied the King of Terrors, and put him
back in the niche from which the celes-
tial c%onqueror had just emerged. Aha!
when the jaws of the eastern mauso-
leum took down the black giant death
was swallowed up in victory" l pro-
claim the
ABOLITION OF DEATH.
The old antagonist is driven back
into mythology with all the lore about
Stygian ferry and Charon with oar and
boat. Melrose Abbey and Kenilworth
Castle are no more in ruins than is the
sepulchre. We shall have no more to
do with death than we have with the
cloak-room at a governors or q presi-
dents levee. We stop at such cloak
room and leave in charge of a servant
our %Overcoat, our overshoes, our out
ward apparel, that We may not be i'm
peded in the brilliant round of the
drawing-room. Well, my friends
when We 60 out Of this world we are
going to a kings banquet, and to a re-
ception of monarchs, and at the door
of the room we leave the cloak of flesh
and the wrappings with which we
meet the storms Of this world. AT the
close OF an earthly reception, under the
brush and broom of the porter the coat
or hat may be handed to us better than
when we resigned if, and the cloak of
humanity will finally be returned to
us improved and frightened and puri-
fled and gloritied.
You and | do not want u bodies
returned as they are now. We want
to get rid of all their weaknesses and
all their susceptibilities to fatigue and
all their slowness of locomotion. They
will be put through a chemistry of
soil and heat and cold and changing
seasons out Of which God will
RECONSTRUCT
them "a much better than they are
now as the body of the rosiest and
healthiest child that bounds over the
lawn at Prospect park is better than
the sickest patient in Bellevue hospital.
But as to our soul, we will cross right
over, not waiting for ~obsequies, indie
pendent of obituary, into a state in
every way better. with wider room and
~velocities beyond computation; the
dullest OF us into companionship with
the very best spirits in their very best
mood, in the parior OF the universe. the
four walls FURNISHED and panelled
and pictured and gloritied with all the
splendors that the infinite God in all
the ages has been able to invent.
VICTORY!
This view of course makes it of little
Importance whether we are cremated
or sepultured. If the latter is dust to
dust, the former is ashes to ashes. If
any prefer incIneratio l let them have
it without caricature. The world may
become so crowded that cremation may
be universally adopted by law as well
as by general consent. Many of the
mightlest and best spirits have gone
through this process. Thousands and
tens of thousands Of Gods children
have been cremated-P. p. Bliss and
wife, the evangelistIc singers, Gre
mated by accident at Ashtabula Bridge;
John Rodgers, cremated by persecu-
ton; Latimer and Ridley, cremated at
Oxford; Pothinus. and Biandina. a
slave, and Alexander, a physician, and
their comrades, cremated at the order
of Marcus Aurelious-at least a hun
dred thousand of Christ's diciples Gre
mated-and there can be no doubt
about the
RESURRECTION OF lei BoDIEs.
If the world lasts as much longer as 1t
has already been built, there perhaps
may be no room for the large acreage
set apart for the resting places, but
that time has not come. Plenty of
room yet. and the rae need not pass
that bridge of fire until it comes TO it.
The most Of us prefer the old way.
But whether out Of natural disintegra-
ton or cremation We snail get that
luminous, %buoyant. gladstone, trans
cendent. magnificent. inexplicable,
HI IT.. &c. I~t